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The Town of Dawson City has reached an out-of-court settlement over the town’s historic CIBC building, paying former owner Mike Palma $170,000.

Both the town and Palma claimed to own the CIBC building.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce leased the building from the town, but that lease ran out in 1999. Palma bought the building from CIBC for $1 in the 1980s. It has sat vacant since then.

Dawson City Mayor Wayne Potoroka said the town decided it would be better to spend money acquiring the building instead of paying legal fees in what could have been a long, drawn-out battle in court.

Potoroka said the town plans to restore the building.

The Dawson City Canadian Bank of Commerce branch opened in 1898 amid the prospecting frenzy of the gold rush. Poet Robert Service, who composed The Cremation of Sam McGee, worked at the bank in 1908 following a stint at the bank's Whitehorse branch.